The B Team
by randompandattack
Summary: An attack by Xana goes horribly wrong and Jeremy, Yumi and Odd are killed. Only Aelita and Ulrich survive. To continue fighting Xana they recruit Sissy, Herb and Nicholas to be Lyoko warriors. Has both Ulrich/Aelita and Ulrich/Sissy discontinued
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I recently watched all of Code Lyoko and liked it. Decided to write a story. I have pretty much all of the story figured out, just not the number of chapters. I should warn any readers: this story is pretty angsty at times. Especially this chapter which should have the most angst. Thanks for reading. **

**The B Team**

It had all gone wrong.

Despite what Jeremy had thought, it was no ordinary Xana attack. This time the supercomputer had possessed a police officer with a gun. While Ulrich, Yumi, Odd and Aelita were on Lyoko trying to deactivate the tower Jeremy was at the computer providing assistance.

As he sat there speaking into the microphone he never even saw the possessed officer as he was shot in the back of the head. His head fell down on the keyboard and soaked it in blood. The others were under fire from enemies and asked Jeremy to help them but there was no response. Both Yumi and Odd were quickly devirtualized but Ulrich managed to keep his life points to defend Aelita.

When Odd and Yumi appeared back in the scanners they went to look for Jeremy because they thought he must be in trouble. They had no idea how right they were. When they made it up the officer was waiting for them. Meanwhile back on Lyoko Ulrich had defeated all of the enemies but one and had cleared enough of a path for Aelita to make it into the tower safely. Sighing in relief he didn't even put up a fight as the crab devirtualized him.

When he got out of the scanner he headed up to see if the others were alright and if they needed any help. He was shocked to see the officer standing over the bodies of Yumi and Odd. They were lying on the ground and neither was moving…or breathing.

Ulrich's scream of pain and fury alerted the officer to his presence. The teen boy charged at the possessed man. The gun shot a bullet right through his right arm and then his shoulder but it didn't stop him. He slammed right into the officer and knocked him off his feet.

The possessed man quickly kicked Ulrich off and then pointed the gun right between his eyes. Ulrich flinched and closed his eyes but right before the trigger was pulled the Xana sign left the man's eyes and he collapsed on top of him. Pushing the body off the brunette limped over to the computer.

Ulrich could hear Aelita's voice coming from the earpiece. She was trying to tell Jeremy she had deactivated the tower. Pushing the body aside slightly Ulrich pressed the enter key. "Return to the past…" He said collapsing to his knees right before the bright white light covered the earth.

* * *

Time had reverted to that morning before the attack. Aelita was standing in her usual spot in front of the vending machines where she and her friends always met. But she was worried as none of her friends were there yet. They were all supposed to have been there already except for Ulrich who would show up a minute later.

She could do nothing but bite her lip and look around expectantly until Ulrich showed up a minute later. "Ulrich!" She walked over to him a few feet before he reached the vending machines. "Do you know what happened to the others? The trip back in time should've put them right back here. Yet I was all alone."

Aelita then got a better looked at Ulrich and while he looked perfectly fine physically she could tell there was something wrong by the look in his eyes. "Aelita…" His voice was heavy with emotion. "I'm sorry."

"What's wrong Ulrich?" The pink-haired girl asked worried. "What went wrong? And where's Jeremy?"

At this point Aelita could see actual tears forming in her friend's eyes. "Xana…he possessed a man with a gun." Ulrich explained. "I-I don't know what happened exactly but when I got back everybody was lying really still. H-He shot them Aelita. I think…I think they're dead."

"No!" Aelita shouted. "That's impossible! You must've seen it wrong Ulrich! They're not dead! He can't be dead!"

"Aelita I saw a hole…" Ulrich gulped. "I saw a red hole that went through Jeremy's head."

"You're lying!" She screeched covering both ears with her hands. Tears were now running down her face. "You're lying to me! Jeremy is alive! He has to be!"

At this point Aelita's screaming and crying was drawing attention from nearby students. The gym teacher Jim saw the commotion and jogged over toward them. "Stern! Stone! What's going on?"

"Aelita's not feeling well Jim." Ulrich quickly answered. "I think I'm going to take her to the infirmary." He grabbed her by the wrist and headed toward the nurse's office.

Jim was slightly taken back by Ulrich's quickly reply and action. "Well…okay. But I don't want to hear about any funny business!" He yelled at the two as they hurried off.

Ulrich knew now he had no choice but to actually take Aelita to the infirmary as Jim was sure to check later to make sure they had gone. It had been the only idea he could think of and even now he wasn't sure what he should do. He didn't know of a way to make Aelita feel better and all he wanted to do was start crying himself.

A few minutes later they arrived at the nurse's office. The nurse had only just opened her doors and no one else was inside. She was holding a cup of coffee and yawning when Ulrich came in pulling Aelita with him.

"What is it this time Ulrich?" She asked. "Not trying to get out of class again are you?" It was then that she noticed Aelita was sobbing.

"It's Aelita." He answered in a hollow voice. "She doesn't feel good. And to be honest…neither do I." He sat down on the white bed used for sick patients.

The nurse thought she spotted tears in Ulrich's eyes too before he suddenly turned away. "A-Alright then. You may stay."

* * *

An hour later Aelita and Ulrich were still in the nurse's office but Aelita had managed to stop crying. Instead she just sat there cradling her head in her hands making small, indistinguishable sounds. Suddenly the door flew open and the gym teacher Jim rushed inside looking irritated.

He turned toward Ulrich and Aelita. "Stern! Stone! Where are your three friends? None of them have been to class today. I've already checked their rooms but none of them were inside. Did all three of them skip and leave campus?"

Ulrich opened his mouth but no words came out. Aelita on the other hand could speak. "They're gone…they're gone!" She kept repeating.

"Gone?" Jim asked. "Gone where?" He leaned in close to Aelita thinking she'd spill any secrets. Ulrich worried what she might tell him in her distressed state so he spoke up before that could happen.

"They left…last night." He lied. Jim turned his attention from Aelita to Ulrich. "They went into the woods late last night. It was a dare, but Aelita and I didn't go with them. They said they'd be back in an hour…but they never came back."

"What?" Jim asked alarmed. "Are you serious?"

Ulrich nodded. "Aelita's been worried ever since." He gulped. "You'll find them won't you Jim?"

"You should've told me or one of the other teachers sooner." Jim gritted his teeth. "Come with me." He told the two teens. "I'll need you to tell your story to the principal first."

The gym teacher forced the two to come with him to the principal's office. Once there Jim had Ulrich repeat his story while Aelita stood there silently. Once Ulrich had finished the principal turned to Aelita. "Is this all true young lady?"

The pink-haired girl turned to Ulrich who gave her a look pleading her to go along with it. She then turned to the principal. "…yes sir. That's what happened."

"Well I understand that your upset but I assure you we will find your cousin and his two friends." The man nodded. He then gave Jim instructions along with some of the other teachers and made some phone calls. Turning back to the two he felt a twinge of pity. "Stern why don't you take Stone back to her room for today? She seems rather upset."

Ulrich nodded. "Yes sir." Grabbing Aelita by the hand he took her out of the principal's office as quick as he could. When they were outside Aelita pulled her hand away.

"I don't want to go to my room!" She told him. "I need to go to Jeremy's room. He'll be there!" She then made a break for the dormitories.

"Aelita wait!" Ulrich ran after her.

She ran into the dorms on the boys' floor and headed for Jeremy's room. Ulrich was right behind her when suddenly his path was blocked by Sissy. Ulrich came to an abrupt halt and barely managed not to crash into her. "Sissy! Get out of my way!"

"Not so fast Ulrich." She crossed her arms over her chest. "The buzz around school is that Jeremy, Odd and Yumi have disappeared and my bet is that you know what happened to them. Spill."

"That's none of your business Sissy, now move already!" He tried to get past her but she spread both her arms out filling the thin hallway and effectively blocking him.

"I'm not giving up that easy. I know you and your little gang are always up to something and this time I want to know what. You're not getting past until you tell me where they are!" She declared.

Ulrich didn't have the time for this and he was more than a little distraught. Sissy's taunts were only adding anger to that list of emotions. "You want to know where they are? Well they're DEAD!" He screamed at her.

"D-Dead?" She stuttered out in surprise. By the time she blinked Ulrich had sidestepped her and ran after Aelita.

The pink-haired girl had already reached Jeremy's room. Ulrich ran inside and closed the door behind him then turned to see Aelita staring at Jeremy's computer. "He…he's not here."

"Aelita…he's gone."

She suddenly turned to him. "Even his body?"

"If Jeremy and the others died their bodies wouldn't have returned with us during the return to the past." Ulrich explained. "They would've just disappeared."

Aelita wiped a tear from her eye. "How would you even know that?"

"I asked Jeremy about it once." He admitted. "In case the worst situation imaginable happened. But I never imagined it actually would…"

"I-I never even got the chance to say goodbye…" Aelita cried. Suddenly she went over to Jeremy's desk and started pulling open all the drawers. Finding what she was looking for she pulled out a small but sharp blade Jeremy kept. Then she pointed it towards herself.

"Aelita no!" Ulrich grabbed the distressed girl and tried to wrestle the blade out of her hand.

"Let me go Ulrich!" She shouted at him. "It's my choice!"

"NO!" Ulrich knocked the blade out of her hand. It fell to the floor and landed underneath Jeremy's bed. "I can't let you do that Aelita. Jeremy would never forgive me."

Aelita fell to her knees and her small fists pounded the carpeted floor. "You don't understand Ulrich! I loved Jeremy! He was my whole world. He brought me back to the real world and did everything he could to take care of me. Without him I'm nothing. I don't want to live when he's dead!"

"But he'd want you to live." Ulrich all but whispered. Still, Aelita heard it. "Jeremy worked tirelessly and did all he could to bring you to the real world and I don't think he'd want you to throw your life away just because he was gone. He'd want you to live."

Aelita turned to look at Ulrich with the most pitiful look on her face. "But Ulrich…I love him."

Ulrich brought her head to rest on his chest and hugged her close. "I know you did Aelita. And he loved you too." And for a while they just stayed like that. Aelita sobbing while Ulrich did his best to comfort her and himself. But he knew no words to make her feel better. He could only hold her and wish the pain would stop.

* * *

Hours later it was evening and despite their pain both teenagers were hungry after having skipped earlier meals. "We should get something to eat." Ulrich suggested.

Aelita turned away. "I'm not hungry."

Ulrich stood up and stretched. "I know, but we have to keep our strength up." His companion didn't reply but allowed herself to be dragged to the cafeteria. On their way there they ran into Jim who in an effort to keep them up to date informed them that their friends had yet to be found but all efforts were being made. Ulrich thanked him quietly.

Conversation was abuzz in the cafeteria mostly because of the disappearances. Luckily no one approached Ulrich or Aelita despite them being included in quite a lot of the gossip. Sissy sat at her usual table with Herb and Nicholas. She stared concerned at her love interest but did not go over to talk to him.

Ulrich was doing his best to eat but Aelita was just staring at her food. Her male companion noticed this. "You have to eat something Aelita."

"What difference will it make?" She asked glumly. "We're the only two left. In a few days Xana will attack again but there's no way we'll be able to beat him."

"Yeah. You have a point." Ulrich gritted his teeth. "But I won't just give in that easily. Not after what Xana did to my friends. I'll pay that monster back if it's the last thing I do." Aelita was curious to observe Ulrich clenching both his fists under the table.

"What are you going to do?" She asked.

"You say there aren't enough of us to hold Xana off right?" Aelita nodded at this. "Then I guess we'll have to recruit some more Lyoko warriors." The pink-haired girl turned her head to see that Ulrich was glancing over toward Sissy's table.

* * *

**A/N: Reviews are appreciated. Next chapter won't have as much angst, but it'll still be there. Also for anyone curious I will go into Ulrich's feelings over Yumi later. It just didn't fit into this chapter. See you next time. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews last chapter guys! It slipped my mind last time, but this story takes place in the middle of season 3 before William joins the team. He will have a role in this story (no spoilers though) but he's not on the team. **

**The B Team**

**Chapter 2**

Aelita hadn't slept well that night. She spent most of the night tossing and turning. When she finally did get to sleep she awoke only an hour later from a horrific nightmare wherein she had chased after Jeremy throughout Lyoko only to watch him be divirtualized right in front of her.

After that she got out of bed and hid herself in Jeremy's room until morning. She was surprised when half an hour before class started Ulrich appeared in the doorway carrying a granola bar. "Eat this," he tossed it to her.

Aelita caught it without thinking. "How did you know I was here?"

"I already checked your room." He answered. "Since you weren't there I knew you had to be here. You really should eat that." His finger pointed to the unopened granola bar in her hand. "You already missed breakfast and you barely touched your food last night."

Aelita frowned but grudgingly opened the wrapper and took a bite. Satisfied Ulrich changed the subject. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Not really," Aelita stared at her breakfast.

"Me neither." He sighed. "I'm sorry Aelita, but we have to go to class today. The teachers think we should be doing something instead of worrying about…about the others."

"That's okay." She nodded. "Class will take my mind off of everything." The two leave Jeremy's room. They start making their way out of the dorm and head for class. "Ulrich there is something I want to talk about."

"What is it?"

"It's about what you said yesterday." Aelita paused. "About recruiting more Lyoko warriors. Did you mean it?"

Ulrich nodded. "I spent last night thinking about it and my original idea seems the best option we have right now. We're going to need to recruit multiple people if we want to survive and I've got just the three in mind."

"Who?" Aelita asked.

"You're not going to like it but…I think we should ask Sissy, Herb, and Nicholas to join us." Ulrich said.

Aelita seemed surprised by his answer. "Are you sure it should be those three?"

"We don't have a lot of time or options." He told her. "And each of those three has something we need."

"But I thought you and the others had agreed not to invite Sissy after what happened the first time Xana attacked."

Ulrich looked awkward at this. "We may have been too hasty, judged her too quickly. Sissy had after all been the first victim of Xana by being electrocuted. She only told her father our secret because she was scared and believed we were in danger. I bet if we explained it to her this time she won't betray us." He paused. "At least I hope so. We really don't have a lot of choice."

"What about William?" Aelita suggested.

"I thought about it," Ulrich admitted. "But William's an unstable wild card. He's helped us a few times, but he's also got in our way just as much. Plus I don't know what he'll do if we told him about Yumi. I don't think he'd take it well."

"I thought it was just because you didn't like him."

"There's certainly that." Ulrich shrugged. By this time they had arrived outside their first class of the day. "Listen I need you to come to the cafeteria at lunch today. That's when I'm going to make Sissy an offer and I think you should be there."

"Alright." She nodded. Ulrich was about to go inside when she grabbed his arm. "And Ulrich? Thanks for breakfast."

* * *

No matter how hard he tried Ulrich couldn't seem to concentrate in class that day. His mind kept drawing him back to what had happened. Luckily his teachers knew of the situation (or thought they did) and did not bother asking him the answer to whatever question had come up. In other words they left him alone.

The bell to lunch seemed to take much longer to ring today and the teen found himself impatient by the time it finally did. He quickly left his classroom and headed toward the cafeteria. He stood outside the door and waited until Aelita showed up a few minutes later. After a quick greeting they went inside.

They both stood in line to get lunch like normal. However when they got their food they did not immediately go to their own table. Instead Ulrich made his way over to Sissy's table with Aelita right behind him. The three teens already sitting there looking up when they approached and watched surprised as Ulrich took a seat across from Sissy and Aelita right beside him.

"Ulrich?" Sissy blinked a few times for good measure. Then a thought crosses her mind and a look of pleasant surprise crosses her face. "Oh Ulrich! I'm so glad you decided to join me for lunch. Not quite sure why you brought Aelita with you but still…"

Herb turned toward Nicholas. "Hey, what are they doing here?"

"Uhhh…I don't know." The blonde shrugged. Herb rolled his eyes.

"Hello Sissy," Ulrich greeted the girl across from him. "Aelita and I wanted to talk to you about something important. We think it'll be of interest to you."

"I'll listen to anything you have to tell me Ulrich dear." Sissy said dreamily. Then she turned to Herb and Nicholas with a very different expression on her face. "Alright you two; scram! Can't you see Ulrich wants to talk to me alone?"

"No, they should stay." Ulrich said motioning for the two boys not to leave the table. "What I want to say is for all three of you." Sissy pouted but just crossed her arms. "I guess I'll just say it outright. You've always been very suspicious of where our group disappears to and what we do. Are you still interested in finding out?"

"Of course," Sissy said. All three of them nodded.

"Good. Then meet us after classes get out in the park. And make sure you don't tell anybody else about this alright? Including your father, Sissy."

"Right," Sissy nodded.

"See you then." Ulrich said standing up. Both he and Aelita dumped their trays and left. "You didn't say anything." He remarked.

The pink-haired girl shrugged. "You handled it fine. I didn't need to say anything."

"I hope this works."

* * *

Ulrich wasn't the least surprised when he headed to the park after class and found that Sissy, Herb and Nicholas were already there waiting. Sissy waved at him as he walked over. "Hello Ulrich dear! I'm all ready whenever you are."

The loner stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around before looking at the loud girl. "Sorry Sissy, but we're going to have to wait until Aelita gets here."

"We're going to have to wait for her?" Sissy whined.

"She won't be long." He said, but after that they lapsed into an awkward silence. A few minutes later they spotted Aelita jogging over to them.

"I'm sorry I'm late Ulrich." She apologized as soon as she arrived. "I needed to get…something."

Ulrich raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He turned back to Sissy and the other two. "Alright, now that we're all here we can begin."

"That's right!" Sissy pointed her index finger at the brunette. "Spill! What have you been up to and where are your three friends?"

Ulrich sighed. "It'll be easier to show you. Follow me." Without waiting for reply he turned and walked further into the park/forest. He knew the way there well and he did not have to go far.

He soon came to what seemed a completely random area in the park. Herb looked left and right but didn't see anything. "Why have we stopped? There's nothing here!"

"Maybe he stopped to show us all the trees." Nicholas joked.

"Both of you be quiet." Sissy chided them. "Ulrich knows what he's doing!"

Aelita let out a tiny giggle while Ulrich rolled his eyes. He bent down to an unnoticed manhole and opened it to reveal a human sized hole. The three newcomers leaned forward in surprise to get a better look. They could see a ladder leading all the way down. But where it led they didn't know.

"So this is where you guys always disappeared to." Sissy let slip. "I followed you guys here before but it seemed like you always just vanished. But you were really just coming here weren't you?"

Ulrich nodded. "This is just the beginning. Now we have to go down into the sewers." Sissy cringed when she heard this but followed behind Ulrich and Aelita once they climbed down the ladder. Herb and Nicholas right behind her.

The five teens made their way through the sewer quickly enough. Aelita suggested they not ride their skateboards through like normal in order for the three newcomers to get a better feel for where they were going so they didn't waste time getting lost later on. While they all looked around curiously no one was disappointed when they reached the other ladder and it was time to go back to the surface.

Climbing back up they found themselves in front of the abandoned factory. "This is where you guys were?" Sissy asked annoyed. "We didn't need to go through the sewer when we could've just walked!"

"Going through the sewers is faster." Aelita explained. "And often the normal path is blocked by something so this is the only way."

"Follow me," Ulrich said leading them into the factory. They found they were on the second floor. This was easily remedied as Ulrich and Aelita each grabbed a nearby rope and swung their way down to the bottom. Sissy and Nicholas both followed suit without problem but Herb found himself clinging to the rope desperately.

"I can't do it!" He cried. "I'm scared of heights!"

Sissy slapped herself in the forehead. "What a baby…"

"Just let go already." Nicholas said standing right underneath Herb's rope. "You'll be fine." Unfortunately for Nicholas, Herb took his advice and landed right on top of the blonde. "Oww…"

Ulrich turned to Aelita. "Suddenly I'm having second thoughts…"

"No time for that now." She said ushering the other three into the elevator. Ulrich was the last to get in and punched the button sending them down.

"Is this thing safe?" Sissy asked as the elevator descended.

Ulrich smirked. "You've ridden in it before."

"I have?" She looked surprised again.

But the ride down was short so the elevator came to a stop right after she asked. The doors opened and they could all see the part of the super computer where Jeremy always sat and navigated the Lyoko warriors. Jeremy and Ulrich thought it seemed strangely lonely without the short-tempered blonde sitting there shouting orders.

The sight of such highly advanced technology at the bottom of an abandoned factory drew gasps of surprise and amazement from Sissy, Herb and Nicholas.

"Wow…" Nicholas' jaw may as well have hit the floor.

"This is incredible!" Herb said admiring the computer.

"What is all of this?" Sissy asked. "Is this for real? You're not pranking us right?"

"It's real." Ulrich said dead serious. "And so is everything I'm about to tell you." He then explained how Jeremy had found this place and what Xana and Lyoko were. Next he told them about Xana's attacks in Lyoko and the real world and how none of them ever remembered anything thanks to the "return to the past" ability.

"You mean all these crazy things have been happening to us and nobody but you guys remembers any of it?" Sissy asked disbelieving.

"That's right." Aelita nodded.

"You've actually helped us out during some of those attacks Sissy." Ulrich noted. "Which is one of the reasons you're here. This is our darkest hour, and we need the help of all three of you if we want to get through this."

"But where are Jeremy and the others?" Sissy asked again. "Are they fighting this Xana right now?"

"No," Ulrich glanced over at Aelita to see her staring at the computer longingly. "This…is the hard part. The scary side to the story that you're not going to want to hear. Sissy when I told you yesterday that the others were dead…I was telling the truth." Revealing that, the boy explained everything that had happened the last time Xana attacked uncovering the real reason they needed new recruits.

"T-They're dead…" Sissy stuttered. "And now you want us to take their place? But that…that's dangerous! We could be killed!"

"Sissy…" Ulrich calmly put his hands on the girl's shoulders. "We need your help. Please. The truth is, yes, it is dangerous. But there's no way we can beat Xana without your help and if Xana wins then you'll be dead for sure."

The dark-haired girl's gaze was fixed on the ground. She was so quiet Ulrich was almost sure she wasn't going to go for it. Then finally she whispered something. "Will you…protect me?"

"…?"

She looked up at him. "Will you protect me Ulrich? If I agree to help you will you promise to protect me so I don't die like the others?"

Ulrich nodded and clasped hands with the scared girl. "Sissy I may have failed before, but I promise I will protect you with my life. I will die before I let Xana destroy you."

Sissy blushed. "Thank you Ulrich. That's all I needed to hear. Of course I'll help you!"

"Me too!" Nicholas suddenly spoke up. Everyone (including Herb and Sissy) looked at him surprised. "I won't just let some evil computer virus thing destroy the world!"

"…well said Nicholas." Aelita nodded. Then all four of them turned to Herb.

The nerdy of the trio was looking nervous. "I-I don't know you guys. I'm not much of a fighter. I'm only good at academics and I was second to Jeremy. I guess now I'll never get to beat him in anything…"

"Oh I forgot to tell you Herb," Ulrich smacked himself on the side of the head. "You're not going to be going to Lyoko. We'll need someone to stay here and work the computer. Aelita is fully capable of doing it but she's the only one who can disable the towers so we need her on Lyoko."

"But I think I can teach you how to do it." Aelita cut in. "You are the second smartest kid in our class aren't you Herb?" He nodded. She directed him over to the computer. "What do you think? Does this look too complex to you?"

Herb sat down in the seat and put his fingers to the keyboard. "Hmm…" He gazed intensely at the screen before typing in a few things. "While I'll definitely need a manual I think I should be adept enough to figure this out without much effort."

"Is that a yes?" Ulrich asked.

Herb nodded. "I'll agree to assist you since my friends already did. Plus I'd like to keep my memory."

"That's great." Ulrich sighed in relief. "Now since we don't know when Xana will attack again we don't have time to waste. We'll need to start training you three as soon as possible. Which means right now. Is that a problem for anyone?"

"Not me." Nicholas said.

"I don't have anything else to do." Herb shrugged.

"Well I was going to get my hair done, but this is more important." Sissy smirked.

"Alright then," Ulrich clapped his hands together. "This is how we're going to do it…"

* * *

**A/N: Reviews are appreciated. I thought this was a good place to end the chapter. Get ready, because next chapter you'll learn what Sissy, Herb and Nicholas look like on Lyoko! Should be interesting.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys, I got twice as many for chapter 2 as chapter 1. This chapter was alot of fun to write. So I won't hold you up, go ahead and read it! **

**The B Team**

**Chapter 3**

"So…how does this work?" Nicholas asked.

Ulrich, Aelita, Sissy, Herb and Nicholas were all at the abandoned factory standing around the super computer. After agreeing to join the fight against Xana, the three newcomers became Lyoko warriors. Ulrich then told them they'd need to go to Lyoko and start training immediately. "It's simple." He told them. "Sissy, Nicholas and I will head to the scanner room."

"Where's that?" Sissy asked.

"It's one floor above us." Ulrich answered. "We can take the elevator."

"What about me?" Herb asked Ulrich, but it was Aelita who answered.

"We'll be monitoring them here via the computer." She explained. "It'll give you some hands on experience to see how I do it and ask any questions you may have."

"Of course you'll still need to take a turn in the scanners." Ulrich brought up. "At least once anyway. That way you'll keep your memory whenever we do a return to the past."

"Does it hurt?" Nicholas asked.

Ulrich rolled his eyes, "No. Now come on." He waved them to follow him. The three of them stepped into the elevator and their leader pushed the button closing the door and sending them up.

When it opened up again they were in a small room with three strange tubes sticking out of the ground. They were all closed. Sissy looked at them warily. When she got close enough to one it suddenly opened surprising her. "Are these the scanners?" She asked. Ulrich nodded.

He walked over to one and casually got inside. "Just stand inside it and Aelita will virtualize us right onto Lyoko. We don't have to do anything but wait."

Nodding Nicholas got into one of the scanners and Sissy walked into the last one right after. "Okay Aelita, we're ready whenever you are." Ulrich called out knowing the pink-haired girl could hear him from there.

Meanwhile in the other room Aelita was sitting in the chair Jeremy usually sat in with the ear-piece in place. Herb was standing right next to her with one hand resting on the chair as he gazed at the computer. "The first thing we have to do is virtualize them." She explained. "That's the only way to get them to Lyoko."

"Okay, how do we do that?" He asked.

"Well you can't do them all at once. You need to bring up each individual's separate data. You put in the code…" Herb paid special attention at this important part. "Okay ready?"

"Transfer Ulrich…transfer Sissy…transfer Nicholas!"

"Scanner Ulrich…scanner Sissy…scanner Nicholas!"

Aelita hit the enter key. "Virtualization!"

Ulrich, Sissy and Nicholas had their eyes closed in the scanners as a light seemed to rush over them and lift them up. They disappeared from the scanners and were then virtualized in Lyoko's forest sector. They appeared hovering a few feet above the ground before gravity kicked in.

Used to this Ulrich landed on both feet unfazed. Sissy however landed on her butt and Nicholas on his stomach. "Owww…" Sissy whined before getting up. "Why did Aelita drop us off in midair? That wasn't funny you know."

"It wasn't her," Ulrich answered. "That always happens when we get sent to Lyoko."

Just as Sissy got to her feet she looked down and realized she was wearing a completely different outfit. Her old familiar clothes and headband were gone. "Hey check me out!" She said looking at herself. Sissy now wore a red skintight bodysuit that covered her up to her neck but was cutoff at the arms. The tights were both flexible, and a bit revealing.

Sissy gazed down at her chest. "Wait, was I always this big?" She pondered before realizing it wasn't a bad thing. Then she noticed some smaller things. A pair of dark gauntlets adorned both hands up to her elbow. Similar designed boots were worn on her feet. A black choker covered her neck which had a small button on it Sissy could feel. "What's this do?" She pushed the button. Immediately a metal face mask covered her mouth and nose. "Whoa!" She exclaimed. Hitting the button again it released.

At the same time Nicholas was admiring his own new outfit. He wore a forest green tunic that had a hood that covered his head. Underneath the tunic was a white long sleeve shirt and he wore a matching pair of tights on his legs. On his feet were brown boots and he had matching gloves and a belt across his waist. "Whoa…cool."

"So what do you guys think?" Ulrich asked.

"Well it's not quite my style, but I'm liking this new ensemble." Sissy commented.

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "Actually I was referring to Lyoko. Not your new outfits…"

"It seems so real." Nicholas spoke up poking a nearby tree. "Yet at the same time I feel like I'm inside a video game."

"Yeah…what he said." Sissy said feeling the grass beneath her feet.

"Anyway, I want to see what weapons you two have." Ulrich motioned for them to pull them out but both teens just stood there and blinked. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes again the brunette looked at Nicholas. "I think yours is on your back."

Hearing this, the blonde put his arms around his back and groped around. Eventually managing to pull the big thing off and hold it out in his hands. It was a bow, and on his back a quiver full of arrows. But it was no ordinary wooden bow. It was made of a kind of metal and shaped like a bird with the sides resembling wings.

"A bow and arrow?" He said. "Cool." Without thinking he grabbed one of the arrows out of the quiver and tried to hold it in the bow. It was harder than he thought but he let it go and it went flying. The arrow shot off in completely the wrong direction and almost hit Ulrich in the head.

He only barely managed to dodge in time. "Hey watch it!" He yelled at Nicholas. "You almost took my head off!"

"Sorry…"

"Ulrich," Sissy said struggling. "I can't find my weapon!"

"Huh?" Ulrich walked over to the dark-haired girl. "Weird I don't see it either…unless it's that thing on your back."

"What thing on my back?" Sissy found there was something small attached to her back. Pulling it off she found it was a small rod only about six inches in height. "What the hell is this?" She asked. "I got ripped off! This isn't a weapon at all!"

Ulrich was also confused. Nicholas on the other hand had a suggestion. "Try turning it."

"Huh?" Sissy thought it was a stupid idea but did it anyway. Suddenly the small rod shot up and grew in length until it was almost as tall as she was. Then a sharp blade over a foot in length shot out of the top of the rod. The rod itself was red in color except for the end piece which was gold.

"Wow," Ulrich said surprised. "I think that must be a halberd."

The weight of the weapon forced Sissy to carry it with both hands. "THIS is my weapon? I'm not sure whether to be impressed or scared! What's a halberd anyway?"

"It's kind of like a spear." Ulrich explained. "Only the blade is longer and you can do more with it. Why don't you give it a swing?"

Nodding she swung forward only to underestimate the weight and get pulled with her weapon. She tried to swing it the other way to avoid falling down but almost took Ulrich's head off. Seeing the near miss she dropped it. "Oops! I'm so sorry Ulrich dear!"

"Guess I was asking for it that time." Ulrich sighed. "Don't worry, you two just need some practice. Which is why we're here." He then turned his gaze upward. "Hey Aelita, how's it going?"

"Hello Ulrich." Aelita's voice said coming from nowhere. "I'm acquainting Herb here with the various functions of the computer but don't worry; I'm also monitoring you. Is there something you need?"

"Not yet." He shook his head. "Thanks anyway."

Sissy meanwhile had been looking left and right trying to find the origin of the voice. "Was that Aelita?" She asked. "Where is she?"

"She's still in the factory on the real world." Ulrich explained. "The computer allows her and Herb to monitor us and her headset allows her voice to be projected wherever we are and for her to hear us."

"So Aelita's basically watching our every move huh?" Sissy cringed. "Yeah that's not creepy at all."

"Princess knows what she's doing." Ulrich said. "Now before we do anything else: look around. Right now we're in the forest sector. There are four normal sectors in Lyoko: forest, mountain, ice and desert. There's also a fifth sector known as Carthage, but we just call it sector five. That sector is harder to get to but it's where we can get information on Xana."

Nicholas put his hand on one of the trees. "Forest sector equals trees huh? So I guess there's a lot of ice in the ice sector?"

"…something like that." Ulrich grunted. "Why don't we explore the forest sector for now? Hey Aelita can you send us the vehicles?"

"Sure! Just give me a minute." She said from deep within the factory. "Transporting the three vehicles to Lyoko is an important responsibility." She told Herb. "Lyoko warriors often have little time to wait so getting it done quickly is necessary. Do you follow?"

"It shouldn't be too hard." He adjusted his glasses. "I've dealt with similar formulas. Of course those were for completely different purposes-but still."

Back on Lyoko the three teens waited patiently. It only took a minute before the three vehicles materialized in front of them. Ulrich immediately jumped onto his overbike. Nicholas eyed the overboard excitedly before climbing on and with only one choice left Sissy hopped on the overwing.

"These are the vehicles Jeremy made." Ulrich looks at Nicholas. "That's the overboard." He then glances toward Sissy. "And that's the overwing. I'm riding the overbike and often Aelita will ride with me. Lyoko can be big at times which is why we need these to get to the towers in time."

Ulrich drove the overbike through one of the forest paths with Sissy and Nicholas right behind him. Sissy didn't seem to be having any trouble with the overwing but Nicholas struggled to stay on top of the overboard. He was wobbling from side to side as if he might fall off at any moment. "Whoa!"

"Hey be careful." Ulrich warned him. "Odd's overboard is the most versatile vehicle, but it's also the hardest to control." Nicholas nodded and did his best to stay onboard. They continued their trip over the forest sector until Ulrich thought they had seen enough.

"Okay, that's enough for now." He got off his overbike. "Now you two need to practice with your weapons if you're ever going to be competent enough to take on Xana's monsters."

Nicholas pulled out his bow and loaded an arrow in it but then suddenly seemed confused. "Uhh there aren't any enemies to shoot at. Should I shoot at Sissy?"

"You better not!" The dark-haired girl yelled at him; her face turning red with rage.

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "The trees, genius. Shoot at the trees."

"Oh…okay." The blonde then spent the time he had trying to improve his aim by shooting at trees. This turned out to be harder than he thought and Ulrich soon learned the best place to stand was behind Nicholas.

When he wasn't trying to help Nicholas with his aim Ulrich was giving Sissy tips for wielding her Halberd. Of course since he had never used such a weapon he didn't have a lot of tips but he did his best to improvise. Sissy's training was much more versatile than Nicholas'. She swung and stabbed, spun and hit. It was effective as she learned to get the hang of her weapon but the lack of an enemy to attack meant she could only learn so much. Ulrich had her practice a bit with trees but you could only do so much that way.

And Sissy was getting frustrated. "Uggh! This thing sucks!" She said throwing her weapon to the ground. I wish I had something simple like you Ulrich!" He briefly glanced down at his samurai sword before returning his gaze to her.

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it." He said trying to sound encouraging. Whether it worked or not was another matter. "Listen, we should stop for now. If we don't get back soon it'll be suspicious."

"Ulrich?"

"What is it Aelita?"

"Before you quit I'm going to transfer Herb." She told them. "That way he can keep his memory like the others."

"Oh right." Ulrich had briefly forgotten. "Alright let's make it quick."

A minute later Herb virtualized in Lyoko. Like the other two he didn't manage to land on his feet. His Lyoko outfit consisted solely of an embroidered dark blue robe that went down to his feet. It had a long hood but he didn't have it up. His weapon seemed to be a long staff that curled at the top.

"Hey look," Sissy laughed. "I think Herb's a wizard!"

Nicholas snickered. "Ha ha yeah. Maybe he'll turn you into a frog Sissy."

Herb blushed in embarrassment. "Shut up! I didn't choose this." He looked upward. "Alright Aelita; send me back already!"

"Alright, hold on."

Aelita divirtualized Herb first and then the other three. They took the elevator back to where she was waiting. Then all of them took it back up to the ground level of the factory where they started to walk out.

"So what did you think of Lyoko?" Aelita asked.

"A technological masterpiece." Herb answered.

"Completely overwhelming." Sissy said.

"Awesome!" Nicholas smiled.

They kept walking until they got out of the factory. Luckily Ulrich gave them a break and said they could go back to school the normal way so they didn't have to go through the sewers again. As they were heading back he let them know they'd be doing this again real soon.

"In order to prepare for Xana we need to go back and train again tomorrow."

"Already?" Sissy asked. "I have other things to do you know."

"Sorry Sissy," Aelita said. "But once we get you trained and you get used to it you'll have more free time."

"I hope so." Herb titled his glasses. "I have homework to do. I can't risk my good grades."

"So we'll meet again tomorrow after school." Ulrich told them. "Don't forget."

They had almost reached the dorms when the principal spotted them. He and a bunch of other adults the teens didn't recognize were heading their way quickly. They stopped and waited as the adults approached. "Ulrich Stern! Aelita Stone! There you are." He said looking annoyed. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you for a while now."

"Daddy?" Sissy looked up at her father.

"Not now Elizabeth." He waved her aside. "This is about Stern and Stone."

"What's the problem sir?" Ulrich asked.

"The police would like a few words with you two."

* * *

**A/N: Reviews are appreciated. So what did you guys think? Sissy's outfit was based off Taki's from Soul Calibur. Which is also where the "was I always this big?" joke comes from. Nicholas' outfit was based off Link from Zelda with a few modifications. Herb's was simple wizard stuff which I thought fit. He won't be on Lyoko much (or at all) so it wasn't as important. Alright, see you next time. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Short chapter. I can only describe this chapter as "angst-fluff". Read on. **

**The B Team**

**Chapter 4**

Ulrich and Aelita had no choice but to follow behind the principal as he led them to his office. When they arrived the police officers were already waiting. Ulrich did his best to not look nervous. One of them approached the two.

"We're investigating the disappearance of three students." He explained. "Your principal informed us that you two were both very good friends with them. In light of this we just have a few questions to ask you. It could really help us find your friends."

"S-Sure," Ulrich nodded. "Whatever it takes."

He volunteered to go first and was taken inside the office while Aelita had to wait outside. The teen did his best to stay calm and give the officer the same story he had told the principal and not leave any holes. After half an hour of questioning that got them nowhere Ulrich was allowed to leave.

Next they called Aelita in. Ulrich gave the pink-haired girl a light squeeze on her hand as she passed to reassure her. However when half an hour passed and Aelita still had not come out he started to worry. Had she slipped up? Did their stories not match? Did Aelita crack and tell the truth? As more time passed his fears got worse and worse.

An hour after she went in Aelita finally came out looking shaken. The police officers that came out with her seemed disgruntled. Ulrich rushed forward to make sure she was okay. "Aelita are you alright?"

"You both may return to your dorms now." One of the officers told them. Ulrich nodded and started to lead Aelita outside. However as they were leaving they passed an officer leaning against the wall. Ulrich recognized him as the man who killed his friends while possessed as Xana.

The realization stopped him in his tracks. Gritting his teeth he glared at the man who failed to notice. Ulrich wanted to attack him but knew this man had no memory of what he had done. He hadn't even been in control of his actions but that didn't stop Ulrich from hating him.

Shaking his head he got out of there. They had missed dinner and it was dark out so they headed back to the girls' dorm. Stopping in front of Aelita's room Ulrich turned to his friend. "Aelita, I'm glad you're alright. What happened? What took so long?"

Her eyes darted across the hall. "Inside." She said unlocking her door. They both walked in and turned the light on. In the light Ulrich could see Aelita's eyes were a little puffy. She didn't notice him looking and started to explain. "Do you remember earlier when I was late meeting you and the others?"

"Yeah," Ulrich nodded. "You said you needed to get something. Is that what this is about?"

Aelita bit her lip before pulling something out of her pocket. It was a case of some sort and when she held it up to him Ulrich grabbed it. It wasn't hard to figure out what it was. Opening it he could see a pair of glasses resting within. They looked familiar. "Are these…Jeremy's glasses?"

Aelita lowered her head. "I'm sorry. There his extra pair and I spotted them yesterday. I just wanted to keep part of him with me but when they fell out of my pocket the police officers thought I had something to do with his disappearance. They were really suspicious…"

Ulrich sighed and fell back onto Aelita's bed. "That's way too close."

"Are you mad at me?"

"It's not your fault." He answered.

She sat down beside him. "I miss him."

"I know."

"Don't you miss them?" She asked. "Odd and Jeremy were your friends, and I know you cared for Yumi…"

He sat up. "I'm fine."

"No you're not!" She told him. "You can't be fine. I'm here for you Ulrich. You can tell me."

"Tell you what?" He stood up and looked away from her. "Tell you that the girl I liked, the girl I watched out of the corner of my eyes, the girl I had feelings for is dead?" His voice started to break. "Tell you how it felt when I found her body there and knew I hadn't done anything to save her? Tell you how it feels knowing I will never see her again?" He rubbed his arm across his eyes.

"Ulrich…" Aelita got up and walked over to him. He moved to try and hide it but she could see the tears running down his face that he kept trying to wipe away. She grabbed his arm to stop him. "It's okay; you don't have to hold back."

"It's not okay!" He pulled his arm free. "I'm the leader now so I have to be strong. I can't just break down like that. I need to keep it together."

"Oh Ulrich, don't you see?" Aelita embraced him. Her arms squeezed his back and he couldn't help but to bury his head in her shoulder. "You already are strong. Stronger than I could ever be."

He couldn't hold it in anymore. He broke.

* * *

The next day both of them went to class while the search for Jeremy, Odd and Yumi continued. Odd and Jeremy's parents (Yumi's had already known) were informed and showed up to participate in the search. Ulrich and Aelita were called out to be questioned and some angry parents yelled at them for being irresponsible enough to just let their friends run off like that. It wasn't easy but once it was over they went back to class and had to act like nothing had happened.

Sissy, Nicholas and Herb noticed and were sympathetic. Sissy tried to cheer them up (mostly Ulrich) but it didn't have any effect. Giving up she could only look on sympathetically at lunch as the two sat at their table quietly. But no matter how long the day seemed it couldn't go on forever.

The school day did eventually end and all five of them met up in the same spot as the previous day. "So we're going to Lyoko again?" Sissy asked.

"That's the plan." Ulrich nodded. The dark haired girl noticed lines under his eyes. They headed straight for the factory this time and did not go through the sewers. Getting into the abandoned factory they took the elevator down and dropped Aelita and Herb off first.

Next they rode the elevator to the scanner room. They each got in a different scanner and waited. "Okay Aelita, we're ready." Ulrich called out.

"Actually I'm letting Herb handle this one." The pink-haired girl let him know.

"Alright then." Herb's voice echoed throughout the room. "Here I go."

"Transfer Sissy…transfer Nicholas…transfer Ulrich!"

"Scanner Sissy…scanner Nicholas…scanner Ulrich!"

He hit the enter key. "Virtualization!"

The virtualization was successful and all three of them were transferred to Lyoko. This time Sissy and Nicholas both managed to land on their feet. But looking around they realized they were somewhere different from their last trip to Lyoko.

"We must be in the ice sector." Nicholas said looking around.

Sissy rolled her eyes. "What gave it away?"

"The ice!" He answered without thinking.

"It doesn't matter what sector we've landed in." Ulrich said. "It's not going to affect your training."

"So what's first?" Sissy asked after pulling out her halberd.

"I'm going to need to speed up your training." Ulrich explained. "So you're going to be fighting me. That way you'll get a good feel for what a real fight is like."

"WHAT?" Sissy freaked out. "But Ulrich dear you're way too strong. You'll beat Nicholas in like two seconds and me in thirty!"

"Yeah," Nicholas nodded. "Wait…what?"

"Don't worry, I won't actually be trying to hurt you." Ulrich reassured them.

"Wouldn't it be better if we just fought each other?" The blonde asked.

"You'd be surprised how bad that could go." He smirked. "Anyway we'll start with you Nicholas. I'll charge you and you have to try to stop me before I reach you. As an archer you have to be mindful of being caught by your enemies. You have to keep them at a distance if you don't want to get divirtualized."

Nodding Nicholas pulled out an arrow and prepared himself. Ulrich positioned himself far enough back to give Nicholas time to shoot at him. When he signaled that he was ready Ulrich ran toward him. The archer shot at him as quick as he could. The first arrow Ulrich deflected without any trouble. The second one he dodged and he didn't even manage to get the third out before Ulrich knocked the bow out of his hands.

They tried again. Nicholas started to get faster each time and his aim improved. Soon he learned to shoot two arrows at the same time which Ulrich found a lot harder to deflect or dodge. After a while they stopped as Ulrich could tell Sissy was getting impatient.

"Just come at me." He told her. "I'll just stand here and defend while you do your best to hit me." Nodding Sissy pulled out her weapon and slashed at Ulrich. She was clumsy and sometimes her attacks were quite off so Ulrich didn't have much trouble dodging or stopping her blow.

But like Nicholas she improved. Her attacks got faster and more precise. Ulrich actually had to try near the end to make sure she didn't knock his sword right out of his hands. "That's great Sissy." He complimented her. "But listen next time I want you to—

"Ulrich!" Aelita's voice rang through their heads. "We have a problem."

"What is it Aelita?"

"Xana's attacking!"

"What?" He exclaimed. "Already?"

"It's true." Herb answered. "A tower was just activated."

Sissy turned to Ulrich. "What are we going to do?"

He gripped his sword tightly. "We're going to fight!"

* * *

**A/N: Reviews are appreciated. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys, first off I'm really sorry about the wait. I had some serious writer's block. At one point I even gave up, but right after I realized exactly what my problem was. I couldn't manage to write the lyoko fight scene which would've taken up most of this chapter. So...I skipped it. Most of it anyway. Sorry about that but it was the only way I could manage to keep this going forward. This does not mean I won't write any lyoko scenes in the future. Also I feel like I should give a shout out to "angels who bleed from pain" as they not only reviewed all 4 chapters but managed to be the first review all 4 times. Thanks for the support.**

**The B Team**

**Chapter 5**

Ulrich's sword slashed right through the front of a crab effectively terminating it. Sissy twirled her halberd before driving it right into the side of a Blok. Another Blok was destroyed as Nicholas shot an arrow into it from afar.

"Alright Aelita," Ulrich shouted at the pink-haired girl. "The way is clear. Now go!"

Coming out of her hiding spot Aelita made a break for the nearby tower. She was only feet away when a hornet came out of nowhere and blocked her way. "Ah!" Only barely managing to stop and not crash into it. The hornet shot forward in attack.

"Aww crap!" Ulrich cursed. "Super sprint!" He activated his special ability and suddenly he was so fast that to the others he was just a blur. Sprinting ahead he stopped right in front of Aelita just in time to slash the monster in half before it reached her.

Aelita let out a small gasp. "Thank you Ulrich."

"No problem. Now get to that tower."

She nodded and ran inside. Making her way to the top she put in the code lyoko. "Tower deactivated."

Back at the bottom of the abandoned factory Herb sat in the chair watching all of this happen from the monitor. Seeing the tower deactivated he clicked the enter key. "Return to the past!"

Suddenly everything that had happened that day was reversed. When time started again it was morning and everyone had forgotten everything that had happened besides Ulrich, Aelita, Sissy, Herb and Nicholas. Which meant they had successfully stopped Xana from getting what it wanted.

Ulrich let out a yawn. "That went surprisingly well…" He muttered to himself. Leaving his room he headed outside. Class would be starting soon and even though he had already sat through it he couldn't just skip. His lack of attendance would be noticed.

He had only left the dorm for a minute when Sissy, Herb and Nicholas all ran over to him looking excited. "Hey Ulrich! Did it work?" Herb asked. "Did I do it right?"

"Do what right?"

"I think he means the return to the past." Nicholas said clearing that up.

"Well of course it worked!" Sissy answered. "I even checked by having the same conversation with Emily that I had this morning. It was crazy!"

"Yeah, well it's pretty normal for me." Ulrich shrugged. Just then Aelita walked up to them. "Oh hey Aelita."

"Hey you guys," She greeted them. "Congrats on your first victory against Xana!"

"Thanks!" Sissy smiled. "How did we do?"

"Pretty good." Ulrich answered. "You both defeated multiple monsters without dying and only made a few rookie mistakes."

"Yay!" Sissy said wrapping her arms around Ulrich in a hug.

"Hey!" He objected. Grabbing her arms he tried to remove her. "I said good job; I didn't say hug me!"

"You also did well Herb." Aelita told the nerdy boy.

"Thank you." He smiled. "Though it was harder than I expected."

"You'll get used to it." She explained.

"So now what do we do?" Nicholas asked.

"Now we go to class…again." The brunette winced.

"Awww…really?" Sissy whined. "That sucks! Math was horrible enough the first time!"

"Well think of it this way Sissy," Herb pointed out. "You already know when the teacher will call on you so now you just have to be ready for it."

The dark-haired girl bit her lip. "But I already forgot what she was going to ask…" This caused the others to share a laugh. Just then the sound of a ringing noise could be heard all over the school.

"Well there's the bell." Aelita pointed out. "I'll see you guys after class." The other four said they'd see her later and after a few waves goodbye they all headed to class.

* * *

They got through the repeated day without any trouble. It was slightly easier but certainly more boring. But the three newcomers were glad when they got the day off and didn't have to go train again. The next few days passed and though they did a bit of training they were mostly peaceful.

Soon the weekend arrived. Ulrich had been doing his best not to dwell on what happened and had been feeling a bit better recently. He noticed however, that Aelita was still pretty mopey whenever she thought no one was watching. He could tell she was still dwelling on what had happened.

Deciding to do something about it he approached her Sunday morning at breakfast. She had sat down to eat at an empty table so Ulrich sat across from her. There were few other people in the cafeteria as a lot of the students liked to sleep in.

"Good morning Aelita." He greeted her.

She seemed slightly surprised to see him there but quickly replied. "Good morning Ulrich." Then she went back to eating.

"I was thinking Aelita…maybe we should do something together today?" He suggested. "What do you think? It'll be fun."

"Oh I don't know Ulrich…"

"Come on, it'll take your mind off things." He told her. "Think: is there anything you want to do?"

"Well…" She swirled her spoon around her empty plate in a circle as she thought. "I guess we could go back to the hermitage and see if there are any more clues about my father."

Ulrich cringed. "That's not really what I had in mind. I think it would do you good to not worry about Lyoko for a day. We could do something that normal people our age do."

"Like what?" Aelita asked. "I don't think there's much we can do around here and we're not allowed to go very far."

"Well why don't we go see a movie?" He suggested.

"A movie huh?" The pink-haired girl thought about it. "Jeremy took me to a movie once. It was nice."

"Would you like to go again?"

"Alright," Aelita let out a small smile. "Sounds like fun."

"Great," Ulrich said finishing his breakfast. "I'm sure it'll do us both some good."

* * *

A few hours later Ulrich and Aelita walked side by side out of the school grounds. Aelita had changed into a skirt and was skipping every few feet. Ulrich was wearing his army jacket and kept his hands shoved in his pockets. Aelita turned her head toward him. "It's a nice day isn't it?"

Ulrich briefly directed his attention to the blue sky. "Yeah," he nodded, "hardly a cloud in the sky."

"So what movie are we going to see?" She asked.

"I didn't have anything specific in mind. Is there anything you're interested in seeing?"

"Well when I went with Jeremy he took me to a science fiction movie." She told Ulrich. "But I wanted to see a romance."

"Oh…then I guess…we should see…a romance." Ulrich was clearly not comfortable with the idea.

"Really?" Aelita said surprised. "Because we don't have to you know. It's okay."

"No," Ulrich told her. "I want you to choose. A romance it is."

"Thank you Ulrich!" She said sincerely. Aelita then grabbed Ulrich's hand out of his pocket and held it with her own. Her hand was warm. The brunette suddenly realized how similar what they were doing was to going on a date. The thought (along with Aelita holding his hand) cause him to blush. Aelita hummed the whole way there.

They soon arrived at the movie theater. There were two romance movies playing so Aelita made sure to choose the one that seemed less girly to her. After all she wanted Ulrich to enjoy himself as well. Then, after buying some popcorn, they went inside the theater.

The movie had been out for a few weeks so there were very few people watching it. Aelita and Ulrich got good seats and waited a minute before the room went dark. As the trailers played out on screen Ulrich glanced over at his companion. The pink-haired girl seemed engrossed in the trailers. Every once in a while she'd stick her hand in the popcorn barrel and pull out a handful to stick in her mouth without taking her eyes off the screen. Ulrich seemed relieved. So far this seemed to be the perfect distraction.

* * *

Meanwhile back at school Herb and Nicholas were lying around watching TV. They were having a peaceful day until Sissy suddenly opened the door and came inside in a huff. "I can't believe this!" She said in her shrill voice. "I can't find Ulrich anywhere and I've searched the whole school! So much for convincing him to spend some time with me. Where could he have gone?" She pouted.

"You mean you don't know?" Herb asked.

"What? You know where he is?"

"Well…yeah." He admitted. "I heard he took Aelita to the movies. I saw them leave the school earlier."

"Kinda like they were on a date." Nicholas chuckled.

"WHAT?" The sound of her loud voice forced the two boys to cover their ears with their hands. "I thought Aelita was still moping over Jeremy. I never thought she'd steal him from me like that! She's a lot sneakier than I gave her credit for."

Sissy turned around and headed for the door. "Where are you going?" Herb asked.

"I'm going to find them of course!" She said slamming the door shut behind her.

"But Sissy…they left hours ago." Herb sighed because he knew she was long gone and couldn't hear him.

The principal's daughter ran across the school and headed for the entrance. But before she got there Ulrich and Aelita came back inside school grounds. Sissy bit her lip. "Damn! I'm too late." She did not approach them but instead hid where she could hear them.

"So what did you think of the movie?" Sissy heard Ulrich ask Aelita.

"I thought it was sweet." She answered. "The ending scene was my favorite part. What did you think?"

Ulrich shrugged. "It wasn't so bad I guess."

She smiled. "Don't be embarrassed! I won't tell anyone you liked it." They both laughed. "Thank you Ulrich for taking me. It was very sweet of you."

He wasn't sure how to respond. "It was nothing. I just don't like seeing you sad. I thought it might cheer you up."

"You're a nice guy you know that?" She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Ulrich seemed surprised but after a second hugged her back. Ten seconds later she let go. "I have to go back to my room but I'll see you later. Bye!"

"Later," Ulrich waved as she ran off. Once he was alone Sissy decided to come out and talk to him. He had started to walk off and she was about to run over when someone else appeared. It was evening and the sky was getting dark so Sissy had a hard time telling who it was so she got closer.

She recognized the boy who approached Ulrich by his dark hair; it was William! "Hey Stern!" The girl-chaser called out. His voice seemed much different from the usual calm and cool. Instead he sounded irritable and angry.

"Oh hey…" Ulrich was not happy to see him. He had been doing his best to avoid William for days now and hoped he could keep it up until he graduated. Looking around he wondered if he could make a run for it but the other boy was already right in his face.

"Hey I'm talking to you!" William glared.

"Yeah? Well what do you want?" Ulrich glared back. He had some idea of why he was being confronted but hoped he was wrong.

"Where's Yumi?" William demanded.

Ulrich gritted his teeth. "Haven't you heard? She got lost somewhere. Everyone's looking for her."

"That's what you told everybody!" William shouted. "But I don't believe it! You and your friends were always running off doing secret things with Yumi. You must know where she is. TELL ME!"

Ulrich resisted the urge to punch him in the face. "I'm sorry William…I don't know." He then turned and started to walk away.

"Ulrich!" William screamed at him. As Ulrich turned around William punched him hard right in the jaw. He was almost knocked off his feet but the dark-haired teen grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him up against the nearby wall.

"You want to do this the hard way? Fine! Now tell me where Yumi is!" Ulrich remained silent and instead tried to kick out but William punched him in the stomach. "WHERE IS SHE?"

"Put him down!" Sissy cried out as she swung her heavy book-bag into William's head. The force of it knocked him off Ulrich and almost to the ground. Released from his grip Ulrich pulled his arm back and swung his fist as hard he could into William's face knocking him onto the ground.

Breathing heavily Ulrich made sure the other boy didn't get up before turning to Sissy. "Sissy…thank you."

"Ulrich, are you okay?" She asked looking at the bruise on his face and the cut on his knuckles from punching William.

"Don't worry, I've had worse." He shrugged.

"Is he unconscious?"

Ulrich lightly kicked his leg. "I think so. After your hit and then mine he's out cold. Thanks again. He'd still be punching me if you hadn't come along and decked him."

Sissy blushed. "Oh no problem. I'd do anything for you!"

"Come on," He grabbed one of the girl's hands. "Let's get inside. I don't want to be here when he gets up."

"O-Okay!" Sissy allowed herself to be pulled inside.

A few minutes later William regained consciousness. His head hurt quite a lot but he pulled himself to his feet. "Ulrich that bastard! I will find out what happened to Yumi. Just you wait!" He shook his fist up in a threatening manner to the evening sky.


End file.
